


Coffee and spice

by starrystarrytrouble



Category: Open Heart (Visual Novels)
Genre: Boss/Employee Relationship, Ethan at his poker face best, F/M, Jealousy, MC pining, Mild Sexual Content, Mutual Pining, OH2 levels of slow burn, Slow Burn, lots of longing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 04:42:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29944653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starrystarrytrouble/pseuds/starrystarrytrouble
Summary: What if the Ethan/Harper jealousy was set in OH2?Couldn’t stop thinking about the delicious angst we would’ve had if MC had overheard the same conversations between Ethan and Harper early on in book 2.
Relationships: Ethan Ramsey/Main Character (Open Heart)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 51





	Coffee and spice

He smells like cedarwood. 

And coffee and spice. 

Like a forest walk on the first day of spring. Dew on leaves and thick soil under your feet. The type of walk you think about through autumn when the leaves go dry and every day of winter when the snow laces the ground. The kind that keeps forever. 

She tries not to think about that as they sit at the desk in his office, June and Baz by her side rifling through case notes. She isn’t remembering her hands at his shoulders and his loud moans racing her towards an edge she can’t find anymore. 

He said she was beautiful twice. 

She remembers both times. Once in the dead of night at her apartment after her ethics panel, his hand tracing the curve of her hip. The second, at his, with a kiss on her forehead, just before he took a flight to the Amazon she didn’t know about.

And now, two months on, she’s not sure if they’re even friends.

Baz and June pack up their things and she follows. Slips out without looking at him. She could push it, tease a few words out of him, but right now she’s not strong enough. 

She can still smell cedarwood halfway down the hall. She wonders if she’s tainted with him. 

It’s not enough to give up, but maybe, if she tries hard she could find someone else.

The thought makes her laugh. 

Who else would compare to what she’s tasted, to his stolen kisses on her mouth, over her skin, that fucking cedarwood, the rough softness of his touch. 

Distracted, she remembers she left her notes and she stumbles down the hall back to his office and hears laughter. 

Not his dry chuckle, a full-bellied laugh, the kind she remembers from the few nights they had together and even then, it took a lot to tease it out.

This isn’t Dr Ramsey, this is Ethan.

And a girl. 

Not a girl, she listens at the door, her footfall slow, a woman, the laugh musical and generous, the kind you melt into, decadent and luxurious, and when she peers in through the window. That’s when her stomach drops. 

Harper is sitting at Ethan’s desk, and he’s letting her, his back to the wall, arms crossed, bent over double, and both of them are laughing hard. And they’re perfect together. The lilt of hers with the darker groan of his laugh combine to make the perfect sound.

Happiness.

That’s what it must sound like. 

She doesn’t remember it anymore. Tries to remember what she sounded like with him, but it’s all high-pitched, or entirely too low, moans and moans and blissful moans. 

They’re talking about a bistro they used to go to. She listens in and at the same time tries not to. 

She wishes she was one of those passive-aggressive girls who could just walk in and say, with a flick of her lashes, sorry to interrupt but I left my things. Give Ethan a pointed glare and smile sarcastically at the other woman. Saunter out. Maybe that’s the type of girl he’d follow out. 

Her mind betrays her reminding her that for a few nights she was enough.

They burnt through hours talking. And her company, her mind, her spirit, her body, it’s always been enough. 

She looks at Harper through the window. The grace of her smile, the casual ease with which she throws something at Ethan as she laughs. She’s perfect.

A flash of pride lights up her eyes. 

If that’s the company he keeps then she doesn’t mind. 

But it still hurts, that pang that erupts within her, the hard shell of jealousy that sits solid at her chest and refuses to move. 

She remembers that Harper is Head of Surgery now, not Chief. And she’s just the Junior Fellow on Ethan’s team. There’s nothing stopping one of them, and everything in the way of the other.

Not that this is a competition. Not one of the three of them are the type. 

But it’s so much easier for him to be with Harper, she wonders what a clear easy path would look like for them.

And then she’s back in his forest. Cedarwood filling her lungs, the wind rustling through her hair, the feeling of him under her fingers, moving up against her and even though she tries not to remember, that first second of him pressing inside her, it screams through the breeze.

The kind of feeling that keeps forever. 

She closes her eyes and breathes in. And when her emerald eyes shine open, she knocks firmly and turns the handle. 

Neither jump at her presence. There’s no trace of discomfort at all, Harper beams as her heels click on the floor and she makes her way back to the table where she left the file. 

She wants tension in the air, the feeling that something has changed, but there’s nothing. She gathers her notes and they carry on talking, something about the owner of the restaurant, some French guy who sounds like a character in a Disney film. 

It’s so normal, the easy way Harper makes Ethan laugh makes her wish she was ten years older and twice as smart. 

She takes too long. Feels her heart swoop in her chest. Checks over the pages of a file she doesn’t even need, reading nothing at all but her own increasing desperation. 

Harper stands, tucks in the chair ready to leave. You should go there again, she says to Ethan, Gustav misses you. 

Just like that, she’s gone. And now it’s the two of them. 

She looks up to see if Ethan will watch after Harper. It doesn’t mean anything if he does, she tells herself in preparation. 

And what she sees stops her still. Her heart doesn’t miss a beat, it misses all of them. 

The depth of his stare, as he gazes straight at her. 

Her, not Harper. Her, the barely-not-an-intern. Her. 

She swallows down her surprise, fighting off the urge to wrap her arms around him and kiss him hard until he gives in. 

Because the way he’s looking at her, eyes dark and longing, she has no doubt she could make him give in. 

They stay that way, locked, like always, the electricity unforgiving. The look that could split atoms. Her eyes on his, his staring right into her heart. 

It could be moments, it could be hours, but he looks away. Coughs lightly, and turns to a chart.

She tries not to feel deflated. The hope that rose within her has to go home again. But it’s hard to ignore the disappointment, to cleanse herself of what just happened and everything that did not. 

She gathers her notes and sweeps out with a gentle smile. But at the door she glances back. 

And she’s barefoot running through that familiar forest, the one where every leaf is tinged with him. It’s spring again, the sun kisses her back and the trees are glorious and green. The ground is fragile and tender but every step makes her sure that this will last forever. 

She smells cedarwood again. 

He’s still staring at her.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading - this was a little drabble/experiment just for ao3. 
> 
> Regular fics and OH shenanigans @starrystarrytrouble on Tumblr


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